


Waiting for Love

by vltr0n



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 06:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16676572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vltr0n/pseuds/vltr0n
Summary: It's good to have you back.Shiro didn't think he could ever tell Keith just how much those words meant to him, that it was all he'd ever wanted to hear. He just wanted someone to come home to, and he'd always had that with Keith, he'd just never realized it.It's good to be back.





	Waiting for Love

**Author's Note:**

> The stages of Shiro's love for Keith as inspired by the song 'Waiting for Love' by Avicii. References Shiro's canon death. Past adashi/shadam.
> 
> I wrote this days ago and went back and forth on whether I was going to post it or not, so here ya go. Unbeta'd.

**_Monday left me broken_ **

_ Don't expect me to be waiting around for you when you get back. _

Adam's words repeated themselves in his head without recess as he floated through the black abyss of space. Every replay was like another painful squeeze to Shiro's already shredded heart. He wished he could say he didn't believe the words, that Adam had just said them because he was upset, but Shiro knew better.

Adam never said anything he didn't mean.

Besides, Shiro would have plenty of time to get over it on the trip to Kerberos and back. It wasn't like he had much choice. It was hard to find a decent distraction on what was starting to feel like the universe's smallest spacecraft. The cabin fever was expected though. He hadn't expected Adam to dump him right before he flew off into space, and definitely hadn't been expecting to be dealing with the heartbreak.

Shiro had been prepared to miss Adam like crazy. Matt had joked that he wasn't looking forward to putting up with Shiro's terrible singing of cheesy love songs for the next year, and Shiro was sure Matt would have had to put up with it. Now he was putting up with Shiro brooding and heartbroken instead.

Matt and Sam did their best to console him, but there was nothing changing the fact that he would be going home to an empty apartment and a cold bed when this was all over. The only good thing he had to go back home to was Keith, and that would have to be enough to get him through this mission.

**_Tuesday I was through with hoping_ **

Shiro used to know a lot of things, or he thought he did at least. It was hard to remember sometimes.

He knew the damp darkness of his holding cell, and the stiff, uncomfortable cot he had to sleep on that left a permanent kink in the muscles of his neck.

He knew the harsh brightness of the arena, and the sounds of the audience that were always quickly drowned out by the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears as he squared up with his next opponent. With the next life he'd be forced to take unless he forfeit his own.

He knew the taste of bile on the back of his tongue that would revisit him every night after another match.

He knew the ache in his arm where they had chopped off his flesh and attached the shiny, alien tech to his stump.

Those were the bad things Shiro knew. He wasn't sure if the one good thing he knew was real or not.

He knew messy, dark hair and indigo eyes and a soft smile. Sometimes it was a look of worry or concern, and the mouth would seemingly move to say something, but the voice was lost to him.

He wasn't sure if it was real or not because he couldn't remember if it was from before the mission, or if he had begun to see it after everything went wrong. He saw that face in his dreams, and his fever induced hallucinations, and in his memories on the off chance that he could recall something.

Real or not, it didn't matter. There was no hope he'd ever see that face, or home, again.

**_Wednesday my empty arms were open_ **

Shiro had made it back to Earth. He had finally made it home, even though he'd never dared to hope that he'd make it.

He was both surprised and upset with himself that he could have forgotten about Keith while he was gone, but had still managed to think of him every day without realizing it. Keith was what got him through all the horrors he had endured.

_ It's good to have you back _ .

Shiro didn't think he could ever tell Keith just how much those words meant to him, that it was all he'd ever wanted to hear. He just wanted someone to come home to, and he'd always had that with Keith, he'd just never realized it.

_ It's good to be back _ .

Despite everything Shiro had done and gone through Keith didn't look at him any differently than he had before Shiro had left. Keith didn't bat an eye at his strange arm.

How he had so easily forgotten this man and what he meant to Shiro was going to eat him up forever, and he'd always be working to make it up to him even if Keith didn't realize what he was doing. Shiro was going to make sure Keith knew he was wanted and had a home with Shiro, no matter what.

**_Thursday waiting for love, waiting for love_ **

Being trapped inside the Black Lion's consciousness was an experience that Shiro wasn't sure he'd ever be able to describe. He wasn't sure he wanted to. It was something unique, and he wasn't sure it was supposed to be shared.

He was also pretty sure he wasn't supposed to share the fact that he knew Keith's feelings towards him, that they mirrored his own. Shiro doubted that Keith was ever going to confess, would hold himself back for his entire life because he thought he wasn't good enough for Shiro. That was a lie. It was Shiro who wasn't good enough for Keith.

The Black Lion confirmed that his original body had died, but it would be okay, and she would get him back to their Keith.

_ Their Keith. _

Shiro imagined that if he could feel his heart it would be beating hard against his ribs, trying to break free. Much like he wanted to right now. He wanted nothing more than to get out of here, wherever  _ here _ was, and comfort Keith.

It was easy to tell through the connection of the lions that the whole team thought he was dead, and wanted Keith to let go. But Keith  _ wouldn't  _ let go. He didn't care how alone he was in his belief that Shiro was alive, somewhere, somehow. Shiro wanted to tell him how right he was.

Shiro could feel the Black Lion's amusement at his impatience.

_ Patience yields focus _ , they thought in tandem.

**_Thank the stars it's Friday_ **

Shiro took his first breath and lost it just as quick because the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Keith's face, and he was  _ home _ .

After that things are fuzzy, and he knows things were touch and go for awhile. The Black Lion had warned him it wouldn't be easy, but he was still surprised how hard it was to get himself to settle into the clone and accept it as his own body. He knew he had to though, he had to do it for Keith.

Keith was his anchor, and ultimately it was his voice that helps Shiro plant himself permanently into the physical form.

_ You can't do this to me again _ .

Keith's right, but it's not that he can't, but that he  _ won't.  _ Shiro refuses to let Keith go through losing him for a third time.

Shiro sits up when the pod opens and he feels  _ heavy _ . He doesn't remember feeling this heavy before, but he supposed being an incorporeal form in the consciousness of an alien robot lion you forget what it's like to be in a real body. It feels  _ good _ .

It feels even better when Keith hugs him.

**_I'm burning like a fire gone wild on Saturday_ **

Sitting next to Keith's bed in the hospital proves to be an excellent form of meditation for Shiro. Sitting and watching Keith's sleeping face his mind is quiet, not worried or thinking about the million other things he's responsible for. His heart? That's a different story.

Shiro's not sure he's ever felt so much for one person before.

Sure, he had loved Adam. But loving Adam had been different than loving Keith. Shiro would still be happy to love Keith even if Keith didn't love him back. He would have been happy to just be Keith's friend, his brother.

He also knew that wasn't the case, and was confident his feelings wouldn't go unrequited.

Keith stirred and Shiro sat a little straighter in his chair, hoping that this would finally be when Keith wakes up. Not that he didn't deserve the rest, but Shiro missed his smile.

And boy, was that sleepy-I'm-happy-to-see-you smile a sight to see. No one can prove that the corners of Shiro's eyes are a little damp.

“Hi.” Keith's voice was rough from disuse.

“Hi,” Shiro replies a little lamely, smile plastered on his face. 

He gets up from his chair and moves to stand next to Keith. Shiro reaches out and cups Keith's cheek, thumb brushing against the skin and catching against his soft eyelashes slightly. He watches as Keith's eyes widen and hears the heart rate monitor increase as Keith's heart starts to race. 

In hindsight maybe it wasn't the best thing to do right when Keith woke up, but Shiro couldn't wait anymore.

“You scared me,” Shiro said, voice soft.

“Sorry,” Keith whispered, eyes never leaving Shiro's.

“Can I kiss you?”

Keith nodded, his hand coming up to curl into the front of Shiro's uniform when he leaned down. When their lips met it was soft and chaste, but Shiro felt like he was on fire.

**_Guess I won't be coming to church on Sunday_ **

Shiro rolled over, pressing his front to Keith's back and sighing happily. Keith stirred under his arm, so Shiro pressed a kiss to his shoulder in apology.

“Morning,” Keith said through a yawn as he stretched, catlike, before rolling over and tangling his legs with Shiro's.

Shiro smiled wide, moving in to kiss Keith softly with gentle slides of their lips. “Morning, husband.”

Keith's face lit up in his brightest smile. It was the same smile Shiro saw all day yesterday at their wedding. He tried to ignore his racing heart as he looked at it.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments and friends so come yell at me on tumblr @ vltr0n


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